


Mr Calhoun

by MxTrashTM



Series: Stasis House AU [2]
Category: Half-Life
Genre: Gen, Half Life AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26911210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MxTrashTM/pseuds/MxTrashTM
Summary: This is Barney's part for the 'stasis house AU' or 'stasis house'This will be from Barney's POV unless stated otherwise.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman
Series: Stasis House AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862761
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> It's Barnabas time!!!

Barney was having an interesting day to say the least, but seeing the world slowly lose it’s colours as time stopped?  
Well  
He’s got a feeling that his day’s gonna turn from interesting to hair-pulling confusing.

“Barney Calhoun… I hope I am not. In-ter-rupting anything... im-portant, hm?”

He turned around in his seat, the voice sounded so close, and indeed it was  
As he almost jumped out of his seat as he saw the suited man standing right next to the car.  
He’d seen this man before, he’s sure of it  
Then again  
There’s a shit ton of suited elderly guys walking around Black Mesa, there’s a lot of elderly guys in Black Mesa in general, he’s pretty sure Gordon’s the exception when it comes to elderly scientists.  
Now he’s thinking of Gordon, after all the last time he saw him getting dragged away by soldiers while unconscious.  
Luckily, he didn’t have much time to dwell on that event, as the man started to talk again.  
Barney realizes he probably should have replied, but he’s a bit shaken, so who can blame him?

“E-ither way, what this short future will. And will not hold isss not im-portant overall.”

As he talked, the man slowly walked away from the vehicle.

You had the odd feeling to follow him, even though you feared that time would start up again when you least expected it, leaving you behind in this hell hole.  
The fear grew more as you walked behind him, but you continued to walk.  
You decided to say something.

“Uh, listen pal. I don’t know if you’re just showing off your time stopping powers or whateva but I was kinda in the middle of escapin’ so if you wouldn’t mind-”

You had the horrible feeling of what you imagined it felt to be suddenly dunked in an ice bath as the world shifted around you.  
Now there was nothing, a few dots of light streamed by in the void you were both standing in.  
He stood in front of you, his back turned.

“Okay… Do ya mind tellin’ me why you've done all this, what cha’ said before about the future and shit didn’t give me much of an insight.”

The man turned around slowly, you saw a small smirk on his face  
For some reason, that filled you with dread.  
Well, I mean, given the situation, you’re filled with dread either way.  
But the smirk makes it feel like he’s gonna kill you or something  
By how your day is going, you wouldn’t be shocked if that was the case.

“Hey, uh, so if you’re gonna kill me. Do ya mind tellin’ me who you are first? ‘Cause I swear I recognize-”

The man chuckled, it made you a bit mad to see him so amused by your confusion.  
He reminded you of teachers back at school, the ones that refused to help and seemed to enjoy you being confused by material they’re meant to be teaching you.  
You’re glad you’re out of the hell hole  
Unfortunately you seem to be in a new hell hole.  
Maybe you would take this time to reflect and make some philosophical quote that teenagers would repeat on a daily basis  
Some like ‘Life is nothing but going from one hell hole to the next.’  
But you hate philosophy, too much smart crap.  
You’d rather leave it to the guys that like being smart  
Like Gordon.

“Of course you. Re-cognize me… Mr Calhoun… I have made mul-tiple. Im-portant de-cisssionsss to Black Messsa’sss de-velopment to. Alien resssearch.”

That helps with nothing.  
You’re not a name guy when it comes to the suits that pass the hall of Black Mesa, given that a simple ‘sir’ is a good enough for them.  
Although you think you’d recognize his weird way of speaking, but you ain’t a guy for judging, so maybe it slipped your mind.

“Ah, right right…”

Good thing you’re good at faking like you know someone, a sociable and slightly forgetful guy like you has gotten a lot of practice.  
You put your hand on your hip and placed your other hand on your chin, even tapping your chin sometimes. You squinted, you acted like you ‘totally didn’t forget, you’re just such a sociable guy that you tend to get mixed with names and you don’t want to say the wrong name.’  
In reality, you forgot and was just stalling until he said something.  
Suits love to talk, so it should be soon.

“Of courssse... not like that’sss en-tirely im-portant to you. After all a ssse-curity guard is not. Bothered by the sssci-en-tific mattersss going on. With-in the fa-cility they guard... nor with thossse who do. Con-cern them-ssselvesss with sssaid sssci-entific mattersss. Typ-ically…”

You cleared your throat awkwardly, giving up the act.  
You became very invested in your shoes, as you decided to start staring at them.

“But, that is nei-ther here nor there for. Mattersss that con-cern you as of now.”

The man cleared his throat.

“Given cer-tain cir-cumssstancesss, con-tain-ment isss. Ne-cessssary for another and for you.”

The man started to pace slowly left and right.

“Ssso I have decided, given that hu-mansss need ssso-cial in-teraction and that. You ssseem to be one who en-joysss in-teraction, that you can have a joint ssstasssisss with Cor-poral Ssshephard. Your ssstasssisss will be a ssshort one but-”

“Hold on-”  
You frankly don’t care how pissed he gets if you say no, fuck the military.

“Corporal? You mean like the military? Sorry pal but I’ve developed a sudden hatred for the military. Last time I saw my buddy he was unconscious in the arms of some soldiers, so excuse me for not wantin’ to be some sorta roommate to one of them.”

The man stopped his pacing, now glaring you down with clear anger.  
Okay, maybe you should have reworded that  
Been more polite  
C’mon you’re used to being the negotiator with your friends, you should know how to be more careful with your words.  
Eh.  
You’ve had a rough day  
If you’re gonna die here, you might as well be as rude as possible.

He glared you down for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes.

“You misss-understand the sssituation, I have decided thisss. Isss what will happen, Mr Calhoun. Whether or not you will en-joy your. Ssstasssisss is no con-cern of mine.”

The man suddenly faded until you couldn’t see him anymore.  
Okay maybe you are having regrets on making him pissed.  
Have you always been breathing this heavy?  
You frantically looked around.  
Security training might have helped you seem fearless, but no amount of training prepared you for this kind of unnerving.  
You hear a voice from behind you.

“And you will get along with... Shephard, I do not care for. What your persssonal feel-ings are.”

He walked back in front of you, smirking again.  
Well  
Great.

“Can I at least get a separate room?”

“We will sssee.”

You heard the sound of automatic doors opening  
You were in a tram  
You saw a tree and grass outside one of the windows.

“Corp-oral Ssshephard… I a-pologize for the sssudden arrival but I wisssh to. Disss-cuss a… Sssit-uation with you.”

The man walked over to the other side of the tram, there you saw another man sitting at the other end of the tram, other than his mask, he looked nothing like the soldiers you saw at Black Mesa.  
You assumed this is ‘Corporal Shephard’.  
You also saw a some dogs, large ones  
Getting even larger as they spirited towards you  
For a second your flight or fight instincts kicked in, as you feared they were running to attack you.  
You feel animals wanted to constantly attack you, and so you’re not exactly an animal person.  
But you could see joy in their faces as they came closer  
The joy was very very clear to you, as their faces were right in front of you, so you could see easily.  
Unfortunately for you, they did not stop at being right in front of you  
Next thing you knew, you were overwhelmed by a tidal wave of fluff.  
You didn’t manage to catch the conversation between The man and the other guy, as you were too occupied with dealing with the frantic licking and barking.

Finally, the dogs were called off you.  
They ran back to their Shephard’s side.

“Sorry about that, they get a bit excited around new people.”

Despite what you said before, you’re still a sociable guy and he seemed nice enough.

“Really? Hadn’t noticed that, guess I was too busy getting blindsided to notice anything else.”

The man stood next to Shephard, his expression was unreadable.  
Or at least for the short period of time you had to look at it  
As you heard the familiar chipping of a hound eye  
WIthout hesitation, you gave a very brave yell of shock and jumped up in the air onto one of the tram’s seats, managing to hit your head on the roof in the process.

“Oyster! We do not scare people.”

You would almost find it amusing, the scolding of the little alien dog.  
But you’re too pissed at the fact you got scared by such a small thing

“You’ve got one of those freaky aliens? I understand havin’ dogs but what the hell.”

“I know they can be aggressive at first, but you’ve just gotta get to know them.”

You eyed up ‘Oyster’ as you climbed off the seat  
You were going to make a comment on how smug the alien looked, but The man interrupted

“And you will have plenty of time to do ssso, but firssst before I. Leave you two… I be-lieve there are some mod-ificationsss I must... make to thisss living ssspace to make it more com-fortable for the both of you.”

“Could it have a lockable kennel?”

“My puppies are more than capable of behaving.”

The man stared at you for a bit, before motioning to the door that led to the lawn outside.

“We will sssee about that, but what mod-ificationsss are being... made to the tram isss from Corp-oral Ssshephard’sss sssu-ggessstionsss, asss we were jussst dissscussssing it before. We cannot be in-ssside while I make changesss to it.”

You all walked outside, followed by the over excited dogs and alien.

You watched as the tram warped before you, expanding upwards and separating into two separate small rooms, with a space in the middle for the door.  
You couldn’t help but be amazed, whereas Shephard seemed to be so nonchalant about it.  
A look inside made it clear who’s was who’s, your area just looked like your dorm back in Black Mesa.  
Except you swear it wasn’t as messy last time you saw it…  
Shephard’s room seemed cool, evidence of it being a pet owner’s room was scattered around the room.  
Everything seemed to be covered in either dog toys or fur  
Or stickers, guess the guy liked them.  
You automatically brushed off your vest, you didn’t notice how much fur you were actually covered in.  
You have a feeling you’re gonna be covered in a lot of fur.

After you both inspected your new rooms, you both noticed The man had disappeared without a trace.

“Did he just, uh, leave?”

“Yeah, he mentioned to me while you were stuck in the puppy pile that he couldn’t stay long, something to do with his employers.”

“Puppy pile is what you call it? I would have called it a Dog-a-lanche.”

“Again, sorry about them-”

“I’m just pullin’ your leg, I guess ‘cause I don’t go around animal all too much I just ain’t use to the type of affection they give.”

“Yep, they can be affectionate!”

You both chuckled at that, then both looked off to the side awkwardly.

“Uh, I’m Barney by the way, Barney Calhoun. I used to be a security guard at Black Mesa.”

You offered a hand to shake.

“Adrian Shephard, I used to be with the military, but I guess G-man’s already given that away. Since he keeps calling me Corporal.”

He shook your hand, a quick and polite shake.  
Maybe he didn’t like touching  
Or just found this situation as awkward as you.

“Yeah, I know you’re with a military.”

Your tone was low and clearly pissed.  
Hey, you might have just meet the guy and are started to get along with him  
But that doesn’t mean you don’t hate the military and anyone in it any less  
After all, they got Gordon.  
Adrian rubbed his neck awkwardly  
I mean, you did make it awkward but  
Y’know  
You just gotta let him know how you feel.  
Now it’s time to dispel the awkwardness with light banter.

“So uh, you called him G-man? Is that like his actual name, ‘cause wouldn’t be shocked if the suit was actually called that.”

“No, he hasn’t given me his name so I came up with that sorta title and he seemed to not mind.”

“Ah, I see.”

Okay, it’s awkward again.  
Crap.

“So uh, what do ya do to pass the time here?”

You have the feeling this is gonna be an awkward and long stasis.


	2. Day 1: Games day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jenga!  
> Mouse trap!
> 
> Hearing loss and nicknames!
> 
> And crude jokes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm leaving school and going to work then uni, these updates are gonna be randomly uploaded whenever I get the energy to
> 
> Thank y'all for enjoying this story so far! It means so much when I see someone commented (maybe I repeatedly read them) or give kudos or bookmarks it!!!  
> Y'all are amazing!!!

You and Adrian had started to get along well, despite the awkward first meeting. Guess it’s that friendliness vibe you give off that everyone talks about  
That, and this Adrian guy is the perfect type to be friends with.  
It’s nice that you two managed to get rid of the awkwardness so quickly, honestly, you suffer from severe secondhand embarrassment that you feel you might have died if you two didn’t manage to get along  
Good thing you’re not old, cause if you were your heart might have imploded from cringe.

After G-man left you got to talking with him (not like you had much else to do)  
Honestly, you were a bit skeptical of him saying he didn’t know why the military was there  
Although he got an idea from what people said to him.  
But, the guy’s got an honest and genuine nature about him, or maybe it’s just the dogs  
Either way, you’ve been known to be a good judge of character.

That’s why you instantly flocked to Gordon when he first arrived  
I mean, he’s around the same age with a kind, honest face  
And he’s a kind, honest, good looking…  
Cough.  
He’s a kind, honest and… Of some kinda looking guy.  
Who wouldn’t want to get to know him?  
He’s a fun nerd!

You’re kinda glad that Adrian was fighting for your guys side, cause honestly the guy seemed too sweet for gunning down innocent scientists.  
Aliens maybe, but humans? No way.  
You also managed to get over your fear of dogs, somewhat  
I mean, who couldn’t love these piles of fluff and joy?

After discussing with Adrian on what you two were gonna do, he suggested getting some board games  
The G-man was surprisingly lenient with Adrian (or maybe just liked him more) and easily caved into the high amount of board games demands of the other  
Honestly, you didn’t know all those board games existed  
Within seconds The G-man appeared, giving Adrian a simple gift bag before leaving quickly.  
So, here you two are, exchanging small talk and such while playing board games.  
Right now it’s Jenga.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I’ve done to t’ guy, but it’s like he hates me!”

You gave a hearty chuckle at that

“Don’t take it personally, he’s just…”

“A hard-ass bastard like all those suit types?”

Adrian got a kick out of that, snorting

“Yeah.”

After awhile and a few wins on either side, you stretched and stood up

“Ya want me to get another game? Honestly I’m growin’ bored of this one.”

“Oh! Yeah, there’s a ton in there and I was really interested in the ‘mouse trap’ one!”

You nodded and made your way over to his room, greeted by the sleepily raised heads of the pack as you walked in

“Easy, I’m just gettin’ another game to entertain your master.”

You spoke in a low voice, with palms outwards. You stared down the dogs for a while before breaking out in laughter.  
You’ve never been good at sticking with a serious joke for long without laughing.  
You looked through the bag, having trouble finding the damn game

“Hey Adrian-”

You expected a ‘yeah?’ when you yelled out, but no reply came so you guess you’d just continued

“-What did the game look like, I can’t find it.”

Still no reply, odd, he most definitely would have heard you, given that you’re yelling now, the dogs definitely hear you loud and clear, now all very awake

“Sorry buds.”

You understood how bad it felt to be woken up from a nap, especially to yelling

You decided to go and walk back to Adrian to see what the deal was

“Hey, I was hollerin’ for you back there and you never replied.”

Adrian tilted his head in confusing

“What do you mean? I never heard anything.”

“Are ya sure, ‘cause my yelling is loud enough to wake the dead.”

“Yeah, I didn’t hear even a whisper.”

Chin on hand, there’s no way he never heard.  
So  
There’s something wrong with Adrian’s hearing, that’s the only logical conclusion

“Hey uh, you ever had hearin’ problems?”

“Never, I mean I was a bit stuffy in the army but that’s normal.”

“What, they didn’t give ya any protection?”

“Nah, something about ‘real life’ practice.”

You scoffed and crossed your arms

“Boots, honestly, kinda was considering going into it -more like pushed- but I just heard too many bad things y’know.”

Adrian did know, and wished he never joined the army in the first place.

“I’m glad you seem too much of a nice guy to be doing stuff like that.”

You beamed at that and lightly punched Adrian’s shoulder, you consider yourself a nice guy but it’s always nice to hear others confirm it.

“Thank Shep, you’re not too bad yourself.”

“Okay, either my hearing is really going or you just called me ‘Shep’?”

You laughed, a lot of people get confused when you randomly give them nicknames, or get asked if you’re drunk.

“Nope! Shep’s your new nickname, take it or leave it.”

Shep beamed under his mask, he didn’t make lot of friends, let alone friends that gave him nicknames, it was nice

“I like it! Uh… Barn?”

You gave a jokingly uncertain look.

“We’ll work on that.”

You both broke out in the fit of laughter.  
When you both managed to calm down, you remembered why you were there

“Oh uh, forgot to say, I was here ‘cause I was yellin’ about what mouse trap looked like, couldn’t find it.”

“Oh it’s blue, green, yellow and red with these cartoon mice on it!”

“Oh, I think I might have spotted it before…”

You awkwardly rubbed the back of your neck and goofily smiled before heading off to the room again

When you went in you noticed the dogs had fallen asleep again, good for them.  
You found the game easily and brought it back  
From the instructions and the wacky cartoon on it, it seemed pretty fun  
After you two got into your groove, you decided to get serious.

“So uh, do ya’ think we should ask if you can see someone ‘bout the hearin’ stuff?”

Shep thought for a moment

“I don’t know if he’ll allow it, but I am worried about my hearing. I mean I didn’t think it was that bad! I thought he just spoke like that! So when he was speaking I thought I was fine!”

You chuckled

“Oh don’t worry, he does speak like that.”

“Oh thank god.”

You both laughed and got back to the game, speaking here and there about whatever you could think of  
You both purposely avoided talking about Black Mesa.  
That would be a topic for another day  
A more serious topic.

Right now it could be less than serious, as Shep made an off-handedly mention of G-Man ‘checking him out’ while stationed at the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit.

“Wait like, checkin’ ya’ out? Like looking you up and down and shit?”

“Not the way you’re thinking but, yeah, he kinda was.”

God, you had not had a good laugh like this in a while, it was the most stupidest thing but it made you smile

“So he’s like a cougar?”

If Shep was drinking when you asked, he could have choked

“No! God that’s not what I mean!”

“Really, ‘cause it seems like it.”

Shep gave an forced laughed

“It’s definitely not.”

“Well he does seem to favor you.”

“‘Cause he’s being a nice person!”

You laughed again, your chest now starting to hurt

“God, I think I’m gonna die.”

“Those were the wrong choice of words, weren’t they.”

“Yep.”

Shep put his face in his hands in embarrassment before sighing and standing up

“Welp, I think it’s a good idea if I head off to bed now.”

“Wait Shep, I’ll stop teasing ya’, let’s play some more, it’s not that late.”

“We don’t even know the time.”

“But it probably isn't.”

It was hard to tell the expression Shep gave, but it seemed annoyed

“I’m sleepy anyway Barney, it’s been nice hanging out but Y’know.”

You nodded

“I know, I’ll be headin’ off to then, probably.”

And so you both did, heading into your respected rooms, leaving the game there for when you woke up  
You fell asleep within seconds, a soft bed was heaven compared to the agony Black mesa brought you  
And, not to mention, the beds they had for the dorms  
Rock solid cheap shit.

Adrian Shephard was having a hard time falling asleep, something nagged at him, it felt like he forget a important step before falling asleep  
But he had done everything, right?  
Then he realized  
His journal.

When he was younger, his mother gave him a journal to write his feelings in, as he had a hard time expressing them how he wanted at times  
And so  
He would write at the end of the day what had happened, and slowly work out how he felt exactly about the day  
Was it still around?

After a few moments of frantic but quiet searching he found it, in his bottom draw  
He located a pen and the nearest blank page  
The entry was short and sweet.

‘I think The G-man doesn’t want to be near me anymore, it might have something to do with how emotional I can get, in the terms of the flowers. But, I have gained a new friend Barney, who I find to be a cool and easy going guy, he warmed up to the puppies well and they like him. He’s apprehensive about Oyster but I know they will get along. I’ve also discovered I might have a worse hearing problem then I thought, will have to talk to The G-Man about that.’

Yeah yeah  
There wasn’t much to comment about the day emotionally, it wasn’t that confusing today.

Now for individual feelings.

‘The G-man: Odd, strange and a little bit scary, but seems to like me but is confusing’  
‘Barney: Fun guy, little scared of dogs and aliens but that's okay! Has crude humor that I could do without, thought.’

He yawned, immediately feeling the effect of sleep after finishing his writing  
Time for sleep.  
He put the journal and pen on his nightstand and fell asleep

What would tomorrow bring?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry but Barney WILL call G-man a cougar at some point and poor G-man is going to DIE

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if there may be some spelling errors or such, I am tired but I wanted 2 get this out!!!! Idk how well I did with writing how Barney speaks, I think I did well???
> 
> Yes, I believe barney is very obviously gay  
> Barney is a simple man.


End file.
